UltraScenery Experiments and Experiences

Lothar Weber

Norman_R said:

@Barbult I applied your tutorial.

 

Insane! 

barbult

Chumly said:

Greetings!

I have had US for a while now, but have kind of put off giving it a go, as there are some other aspects of DAZ that I really need to get my arms around before other cans of worms are opened...

But hopefully this will be a quick question that you can answer.

I am a bit OCD as far as file management  for Daz's user facing files goes, and have read in the various US threads that you "can't move around US assets" or the program won't work.

So, the US assets are all the ones listed on the first page of the US Thread?
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/380431/ultrascenery-commercial/p1

If I am understanding the process, you create a US scene, then, if you want to swap out particular items for NON US assets, you use another program (Alienator Pro?) to make the swap for items that US has generated?

And those "3rd Party" assets don't have to be in their original DIM install location, as they are relying on "Alienator" instead of US.... ?  

Cheers

List of Addons for UltraScenery

• UltraScenery - Harpwood Trail (requires The Harpwood Trail for Daz Studio)
• UltraScenery - Ecologies Volume 1
• UltraScenery - Ecologies Volume 2
• UltraScenery - Landscape Features Volume 1
• UltraScenery - Pines (requires Nature Trees Pack 4)
• UltraScenery - Mossy Hollow (requires Mossy Hollow Botanica)
• UltraScenery - Tangy Apple Orchard (requires Tangy Apple Orchard)
• UltraScenery - Heath & Moor Wasteland (requires Heather - Heath and Moorland Plants for Daz Studio, Wasteland Plants and Weeds - Low Resolution Instant Ecosystems)
• UltraScenery - Water Pack
• UltraScenery - Landscape Features Volume 2
• UltraScenery - Australia (requires Australia Botanica - Trees and Shrubs, Australia Botanica - Understorey)
• Accelerator for UltraScenery

 

List of Addon Bundles for UltraScenery

• UltraScenery - Ecologies and Features Bundle 1
  Contains: 
  • UltraScenery - Ecologies Volume 1
  • UltraScenery - Ecologies Volume 2
  • UltraScenery - Landscape Features Volume 1
• Australia Botanica - Bundle
  Contains: 
  • UltraScenery - Australia
  • Australia Botanica - Trees and Shrubs
  • Australia Botanica - Understorey

You have understood correctly. The json files used for the ecologies and features are hard coded to look in a specific place. Do not move the UltraScenery product folders to a different location or they won't work.

I recommend that you Install UltraScenery products with DIM. They all work properly with DIM installation. Definitely do NOT install them with Daz Connect from inside Daz Studio! If you have installed any of them with Daz Connect, you MUST uninstall them from there first, then install them with DIM. Even manual installation will not work for the Accelerator, because Daz has declined to include the DLL file in the manual install package.

Some UltraScenery products are missing from that list on the first page of the commercial thread. For example, the Pacific Northwest items are missing. I think Howie Farkes just forgot to update the list when they were released.

Alienator Pro is an awesome additional tool, and yes, it can substitute a prop of your choosing for the ones used by an UltraScenery ecology. Those substitute props can be any place on your computer. They do not have to be in the UltraScenery directory structure. Edited to add: They need to be in a mapped content directory, though, so Alienator Pro can find them.

barbult

Norman_R said:

@Barbult I applied your tutorial.

Wow! This is really impressive. I like the water puddles! What technique did you use to add those?

Totte

Norman_R said:

@Barbult I applied your tutorial.

Absolutely fantastic render! Hat off! 

Norman_R

Thank you all. It was a lot of work. But it was also a lot of fun.

@Barbult These puddles. After Rain 2 | Daz 3D

barbult

Norman_R said:

Thank you all. It was a lot of work. But it was also a lot of fun.

@Barbult These puddles. After Rain 2 | Daz 3D

I should have purchased that when it was $1.99. They really look convincing.

DoctorJellybean

barbult said:

I should have purchased that when it was $1.99. They really look convincing.

I thought you own 98% of the products in the store 

barbult

DoctorJellybean said:

barbult said:

I should have purchased that when it was $1.99. They really look convincing.

I thought you own 98% of the products in the store 

Goodness no!

Norman_R

 

 I broke the middle strip a bit. walking dead style 

 

Totte

Norman_R said:

 

 I broke the middle strip a bit. walking dead style 

 

I thought you couldn't make that image look better, but you sure could!
Awesome! 

Norman_R

Totte said:

Norman_R said:

 

 I broke the middle strip a bit. walking dead style 

 

I thought you couldn't make that image look better, but you sure could!
Awesome! 

Thanks  

barbult

Totte said:

Norman_R said:

 

 I broke the middle strip a bit. walking dead style 

 

I thought you couldn't make that image look better, but you sure could!
Awesome! 

Yup!

Norman_R

Norman_R

That was my test scene. (USC Harpwood 03)

I noticed that there are no leaves on the road when everything is visible.

There were only leaves on hidden trees. Howie already knows. Then I fixed it myself.

The leaves don't fall far enough to land on the path. Have adjusted the values.

AllenArt

Norman_R said:

@Barbult I applied your tutorial.

Holy smokes! Lookit that!! Sensational!!!!  

WinterMoon

Norman_R said:

Holy macaroni... That's gorgeous!   

Norman_R

Thanks 

IceDragonArt

Marking this for later when I am a bit more caught up.  I have this and never used it as I had a very difficult time figuring it out.  When I start working on the scenery for my world building project I will be spending a fair amount of time here I'm sure lol.  Thank you for doing this!

nonesuch00

barbult said:

I am now using Daz Studio 4.15.0.14 Public Beta and UltraSceneCreator 1.3.3.1 with the Accelerator 1.0.2.4.

Experiment: Create a New UltraScenery Feature with Added Props (Railroad Track)

1) Refer to the previous experiment (Create a New UltraScenery Feature (Paved Road) for info on creating a Feature.

2) I am going to lay down my track on a flat square plane first, so I have an idea where to create the areas for my height maps and terrain surface masks. I am going to use the track pieces from Modular Railway Track Set in the Daz Store. Let my warn you right now, the curves in that set are too tight for any "real" train to navigate, in my opinion. I used nothing larger than 5 degrees, and it was still really too tight.

1. Create an UltraScene with the terrain set to Brightness -100, _No Features, and Grassland 1 Ecology. The goal is to have a perfectly flat UltraScenery Terrain. When building the scene, uncheck all of the vegetation layers. You don't need any plants for this step; they just get in the way and make things slower than necessary.
2. Place your selected railway track props on the UltraScene Terrain, being careful to connect them smoothly.
3. Save your scene.
4. Set the viewport view to Top View. Do not use a perspective camera and look down from the top. You need to use the built in Top View to get an orthographic, not distorted, view of the terrain square. Zoom out to show the whole terrain square in the viewport.
5. Take a screenshot of the terrain square in the viewport. You want to select a square including the entire terrain and nothing else. This will be the guide for creating all of your height maps and surface masks. You can see where your train track is on the terrain.
6. In a photo editor, use the terrain screenshot as the guide for creating the height maps and surface masks for the Feature.
7. Edit the info.json file for the feature to use the newly created height maps and masks. I created my height maps to create a flat area where the track goes. I set the height to "absolute" 200 for my main flat track area height map and "relative" 33 for a second center-of-the-track height map to make the bed slightly humped up in the middle.
8. Save the updated info.json file.

3) Test the new Feature and adjust maps and masks as necessary.

1. If you don't still have the rail road track props in your scene, open the file you previously saved with the tracks.
2. Run UltraSceneCreator and build a scene with your new Feature.
3. You will probably find the tracks buried below ground because of the height map settings. Raise the props up and verify that your height maps and surface masks are appropriate. I had to try and try again several times to get things to my satisfaction. It is all subjective. Just make it the way YOU want it.

4) Add the track pieces as Props in the Feature, so UltraSceneCreator places the track in the scene

1. Heaven forbid that we would have to manually place those track props in the scene every time we use the new Feature!!!!! We need the Feature to add the props in the right place for us!!!!!
2. Examine the info.json file of an existing Feature that places props into the scene. Any of them with boardwalks would be a good example. Aha, we see that there is a "props" section in the file. There is a whole list of individual props and their locations (position, rotation and scale) in the scene.
3. Copy the "props" section (many lines of code) from one of those Features and paste it into you new Feature to use as a guide to how to enter the list of props.
4. Save the info.json file.
5. In Daz Studio:
   • Select all of the train track props that you manually added to the scene
   • Select Create>New Group from the menu.
   • Name the group UltraScene Feature Props
   • Select Parent Selected Item(s) to New Group
   • After the group is created, make it a child of UltraScene Terrain in the Scene pane.
6. Save the Scene.
7. In Daz Studio, open the Parameters pane so you can see the translation, rotation and scale of selected items in the Scene pane.
8. For each section of train track, select it in the Scene pane, one section at a time. Remember that the track props are now part of a group that is a child of UltraScene Terrain.
9. For each section of train track:
   • update the info.json file to change one of the pasted prop "path" settings to the path of the train track piece used.
   • update the info.json file to change one of the pasted prop "position", "rotation", and "scale" settings to the values shown in the Parameters pane for that selected track piece.
   • If you need more prop sections in the info.json file, copy and paste one of the existing ones. If you have too many, delete the extra. Be careful to end the list without a trailing comma for correct json code. Use the JSON validator to check if necessary - always a good idea.
10. Save the info.json file.

5) Test the new Feature and be sure the track is placed correctly.

Here is a render of my curved RR Track Feature with the Parkside Freight train on the tracks:

 

Wow, I love that!

nonesuch00

Norman_R said:

@Barbult I applied your tutorial.

Wow! I have that deer trouble too almost everytime I go drive out to mow the lawn.

Fishtales

Wetland 4, Willows 7 and Merlin's Roundhouse.

2021-11-16 20:32:38.742 Total Rendering Time: 14 minutes 33.73 seconds

Click on image for full size.

Norman_R

 

I once experimented with palm trees and fish and https://www.daz3d.com/ultra-scenery-toolbox--volume-one by @Totte
My DAZ Gallery: https://www.daz3d.com/gallery/user/6549619081216000#gallery=newest&page=1&image=1189579

 

 

barbult

Fishtales said:

Wetland 4, Willows 7 and Merlin's Roundhouse.

2021-11-16 20:32:38.742 Total Rendering Time: 14 minutes 33.73 seconds

Click on image for full size.

The Daz notification system has been broken since November 12. I didn't realize anyone had posted here. 
I seldom see images with the willows, so that is nice for variety.  The roundhouse fits in nicely.  Did you have to mask out a place for it?

barbult

Norman_R said:

 

I once experimented with palm trees and fish and https://www.daz3d.com/ultra-scenery-toolbox--volume-one by @Totte
My DAZ Gallery: https://www.daz3d.com/gallery/user/6549619081216000#gallery=newest&page=1&image=1189579

 

 

Looks like good fishing in the tropical water! Which fish did you use? It looks like a variety. I really like the nice bright tropical colors here. I think the way you had the horizon go off into the clouds worked very well, too. 

Fishtales

barbult said:

Fishtales said:

Wetland 4, Willows 7 and Merlin's Roundhouse.

2021-11-16 20:32:38.742 Total Rendering Time: 14 minutes 33.73 seconds

Click on image for full size.

The Daz notification system has been broken since November 12. I didn't realize anyone had posted here. 
I seldom see images with the willows, so that is nice for variety.  The roundhouse fits in nicely.  Did you have to mask out a place for it?

 I had to delete three strips of Cattails and Reeds to stop them growing up through the floor of the Roundhouse :) That worked out well because it gives open space for the boat that I added.

2021-11-17 16:29:11.314 Total Rendering Time: 25 minutes 36.0 seconds

Click on image for full size.

Norman_R

barbult said:

Norman_R said:

 

I once experimented with palm trees and fish and https://www.daz3d.com/ultra-scenery-toolbox--volume-one by @Totte
My DAZ Gallery: https://www.daz3d.com/gallery/user/6549619081216000#gallery=newest&page=1&image=1189579

 

 

Looks like good fishing in the tropical water! Which fish did you use? It looks like a variety. I really like the nice bright tropical colors here. I think the way you had the horizon go off into the clouds worked very well, too. 

Thanks. The fish are from Renderosity, 3D Underwater Fauna: African Cichlids. The beautiful Ocean Wonders from DAZ don't work. Unfortunately.  

barbult

@Fishtails have you tried UltraSceneyr Toolbox? it can help mask out areas for props like that, without having to delete whole instance groups. In your case, removing the instance groups worked out well for the Roundhouse image, though.

barbult

Norman_R said:

Thanks. The fish are from Renderosity, 3D Underwater Fauna: African Cichlids. The beautiful Ocean Wonders from DAZ don't work. Unfortunately.  

Interesting. What was the problem with Ocean Wonders? I tried them in a simple scene (UltraScattered them around) and they seemed to work OK. I think the ones you used look more correct for your scene than Ocean Wonders would, though.

Fishtales

barbult said:

@Fishtails have you tried UltraSceneyr Toolbox? it can help mask out areas for props like that, without having to delete whole instance groups. In your case, removing the instance groups worked out well for the Roundhouse image, though.

 I have it :) It was an evolving scene and it never occured to me to use it, mainly because I forgot it was there like a lot of things in my Library :) It actually evolved into an indoor scene eventually.

What do you mean "What have I been doing all day?"?

2021-11-16 19:04:31.564 Total Rendering Time: 1 hours 39 minutes 44.41 seconds

Click on image for full size.

nonesuch00

Fishtales said:

Wetland 4, Willows 7 and Merlin's Roundhouse.

2021-11-16 20:32:38.742 Total Rendering Time: 14 minutes 33.73 seconds

Click on image for full size.

Nice, there are such houses at a archeological park in County Wexford. What I really want to visit are the stone houses with stone dresser drawers somewhere in the Orkneys I forget where.